Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued From The Past

Published: October 16th 2012

With the candid quirkiness of Awkward Family Photos and the confessional intimacy of PostSecret, Ransom Riggs’s Talking Pictures is a haunting collection of antique found photographs—with evocative inscriptions that bring these lost personal moments to life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling illustrated novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Each image in Talking Picturesreveals a singular, frozen moment in a person’s life, be it joyful, quiet, or steeped in sorrow. Yet the book’s unique depth comes from the writing accompanying each photo: as with the caption revealing how one seemingly random snapshot of a dancing couple captured the first dance of their 40-year marriage, each successive inscription shines like a flashbulb illuminating a photograph’s particular context and lighting up our connection to the past.

This was such a neat book.

This review will be short, because there really isn’t a plot to the book. It is a collection of vintage photographs–some creepy, some beautiful and some simply appalling. I loved the diversity of the photos chosen for this collection.

The blurbs that accompanied each photo made these images of the past even more intriguing.

Some struck an emotional chord. There were several photos of females that were obviously kept in a diary/journal, the photos are accompanied by text  claiming how  “fat,” or “ugly” these women viewed themselves as in their photos. The “ugly” women were utterly gorgeous. It made me sad to think that females were still so insecure and critical of themselves even in the past.

I loved seeing the photos of couples and stories of romance and love that followed them. It was a nice visit to the past. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Completely unconventional and unique; exactly what readers should expect from Ransom Riggs.